The China-Central Asia Summit will convene on May 18-19 in Shian, the capital of China’s Shensi province. The summit is considered a “major diplomatic event” to strengthen China’s ties with Central Asian countries amid concerns over Ukraine and Afghanistan.
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan, President Sadyr Japarov of Kyrgyzstan, President Emomali Rahmon of Tajikistan, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan, and President Serdar Berdimuhammedov of Turkmenistan will pay official visits to China this week at the invitation of Chinese President Xi.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying announced last week that President Xi Jinping will chair the summit.
The ministry also noted that the six leaders will sign “important political documents” at the summit.
The leaders are expected to discuss a wide range of global and regional issues, from economic cooperation to security issues such as the Ukraine crisis.
Chinese experts emphasize that security cooperation will be an important focus of the summit due to the risks and crises following the US’ ‘chaotic’ withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The importance of Central Asia for China
This will be the first face-to-face summit between China and the leaders of the five Central Asian countries since the establishment of diplomatic relations thirty-one years ago. Chinese experts believe it will “open a new chapter in China’s relationship with Central Asia”.
Beijing has also long seen Central Asia as a critical frontier for trade and energy security and stability in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and has aimed to develop closer ties with Central Asian countries.
In this context, Xi Jinping made his first trip abroad to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan since the early days of the Covid-19 outbreak in September.
Speaking to the South China Morning Post, Zhu Yongbiao, Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Lanzhou University, said that strong ties with Central Asia are now high on China’s diplomatic agenda.
“Previously, China’s cooperation with Central Asian countries was mostly bilateral or under multilateral platforms such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Now China wants to make clear once again the importance it attaches to its ties with Central Asia as a whole,” Zhu said.
Cooperation to deal with international turmoil
“Asian countries are cooperating to cope with international turmoil,” the Global Times newspaper commented on the summit.
In an exclusive interview with the Global Times on Monday, Chinese Ambassador to Kazakhstan Zhang Xiao said that Kazakh President Tokayev’s visit to China will play a strategic leading role in terms of state diplomacy, promote the success of the China-Central Asia Summit, and contribute to the further development of China-Kazakhstan relations and cooperation in various fields. Zhang also said that China will strengthen cooperation with Kazakhstan on the fight against terrorism and the Ukraine crisis.
Referring to the complicated international atmosphere caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the overlapping crisis on economy, energy and food, and “tricks of confrontation and separation” of some countries, the ambassador said the summit sends a clear signal that China and Central Asian countries will work together to overcome challenges and build a closer China-Central Asia community with a shared future.
This year also marks the tenth anniversary of the “Silk Road Economic Belt” initiative proposed by Xi during his visit to Kazakhstan in 2013.
In the decade since Xi launched the Belt and Road Initiative, trade between China and the five Central Asian countries has grown rapidly. Last year, it reached 70.2 billion US dollars, up 40 percent.
The US has also increased its engagement with Central Asian countries
On the other hand, since the Ukraine crisis, the United States has been increasing its engagement with Central Asian countries.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Central Asia in February this year and met with his counterparts in five Central Asian countries. US officials said the Biden administration is seeking to increase engagement with the region, especially for countries economically damaged by the conflict.
Last month, foreign ministers of the G7 countries pledged to cooperate on Central Asian issues such as the consequences of the Ukraine crisis, the destabilization of Afghanistan, and food and energy insecurity.
According to Chinese experts, the United States, seeing its influence in the region rapidly declining after its hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan, has turned to Central Asian countries to maintain its relevance and is “trying to sow seeds of discord” between Central Asian countries and China and Russia.
